Keyboard musical instrument with chart.



G. REIGHELT.

KEYBOARD MUSICAL INSTRUMENT WITH CHART.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 4, 1910.

' 1,017,589, Patented Feb. 13,1912.

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UNITED STATES" PATENT OFFICE.

CARL REICI-IELT, OF KLINGENTHAL, GERMANY.

KEYBOARD MUSICAL INSTRUMENT WITH CHART.

Application filed November 4, 1910.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, CARL REICHELT, a subject of the King of Saxony, residing at Klingenthal, Saxony, in Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Keyboard Musical Instruments with Charts, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to musical instruments played by means of key-boards, viz. to harmoniums, pianos and the like, and its object is to provide means enabling such instruments to be played by unskilled players by direct actuation of the keys; that is to say the invention aims at providing a musical instrument with a key-board the design of which is such as to afford to an unskilled player a complete indication of the order in which he must play the notes required to produce a certain tune.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is an elevation of the instrument, partly in section Fig. 2 a plan view showing part of the mechanism, and Fig. 3 a plan view of the key-board on a smaller scale. Figs. 4 and 5 are respectively a plan view and a cross-section of portions of the board.

Referring to the drawings, the harmonium a is provided with a board I) having holes 6 in which are movable keys 0, resiliently supported by rubber bands 6, attached to the under-side of the board. The board is also provided with sound holes 8, as shown in Fig. 3. The keys for the several notes are arranged side by side, as shown in this figure in which the letters C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C, D, E, F, indicate the denominations of the notes. The keys for some of the notes, as the lower E and G, are repeated in this arrangement, and occur as many times as the respective notes occur in the tune to be played. The keys may have on their upper surfaces notation signs indicating the time values of the notes, as shown in Fig. 4. On the board there is a linear mark 0 connecting the keys in the order in which the notes which they represent make up the tune to be played, this line being comparable with that on the music sheets sometimes placed under the strings of zithers. The board forms the cover of the case 2 containing the action levers (Z and below each single key or row of keys 0 for producing one note there is a rocking lever Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 13, 1912.

Serial No. 590,655.

which is supported by one of the action levers and the ends of which are vertically slidable in guides g in the case. This rocking lever is slightly spaced from the under surface of the board, so that by depressing the key or any selected key above it the lever is rocked about its support until its rising end abuts against the under surface of the board, whereupon continued depression of the key causes the rocking lever to actuate the action lever d, so that the valve controlled by the lever cZ emits the respective note. By actuating the keys in the serial order in which they are connected by the line 0 with due observance of intervals and values, the tune is played, the observance of the values being assisted by the differential efl'ect due to the difierent positions of the keys relative to the fulcra of the rocking levers f.

Instead of using the board I) as abutment for the rocking levers f, abutments may be provided at the upper ends of the guides g, and instead of supporting the said rocking levers by the action levers the rocking levers may have a separate support, on which they rock in order to actuate the action levers.

The board is exchangeable, so that boards for different tunes can be used, or an ordinary key-board substituted. The board may be divided, the left-hand part having the bass notes, and the right-hand part the treble.

In the case of string-instruments, for eX- ample pianos, the only essential difference is the substitution of hammer actions for valve actions. 7

l/Vhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. A musical instrument, with devices for controlling the sounding of the notes, and a key-board in which the keys for notes recurring in a tune are repeated as many times as said notes occur.

2. A musical instrument with devices for controlling the sounding of the notes, and a key-board in which the keys for notes recurring in a tune are repeated as many times as said notes occur, said key-board having graphic means indicating the order in which the keys must be struck to produce said tune.

3. A musical instrument with devices for controlling the sounding of the notes, a keyboard wherein the keys for notes recurring in a tune are repeated as many times as said notes occur, and means whereby the keys for each note, thus repeated, are severally enabled to actuate one of said controlling devices, said key-board having graphic means indicating the order in which the keys must be struck to produce said tune.

4. A musical instrument with devices for controlling the sounding of the notes, a keyboard wherein the keys for notes recurring in a tune are repeated as many times as said notes occur, and bars for actuating said controlling devices, one bar for each device, arranged below said keys, whereby each or" said bars for any note is actuatable by all the keys provided for that note, said key-board having graphic means indicating the order in which the keys must be struck to produce said tune.

5. A musical instrument with devices for controlling the sounding of the keys, comprising a key-board wherein the keys for notes recurring in a tune are repeated as many times as said notes occur, said keys being arranged in rows, a bar for actuating the controlling devices for said notes, said bars being parallel with said rows, and severally arranged below the same, and arranged to engage the controlling devices below the bars, each of said bars being actuatable by all the keys in the row above it, and graphic means on said key-board for indicating the order in which the keys must be struck to produce the tune.

6. A musical instrument with devices for controlling the sounding of keys, comprising a key-board wherein the keys for notes recurring in a tune are repeated as many times as said notes occur, said keys being arranged in rows, bars for actuating the controlling devices for said notes, said bars being parallel with said rows and arranged to engage the controlling devices below the bars, a fixed shoulder above each end of the bars, either shoulder serving as a fulcrum therefor, so that each of said bars is actuatable by all the keys in the row above it, and graphic means on said key-board for indicating the order in which the keys must be struck to produce the tune.

In witness whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two witnesses.

CARL REICHELT.

WVitnesses:

Enron AMHOFF, EMIL WVEIGALT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. G. 

